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Blazers' next move is a mystery


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Blazers' next move is a mystery

"The mystery around the NBA is where Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard will turn after being spurned by free agent Hedo Turkoglu on Friday. Early indications are he has talked to representatives regarding free agents Andre Miller and David Lee, while also calling Charlotte to rekindle trade talks that stalled in February regarding Bobcats small forward Gerald Wallace.

 

Still, those talks appear to have led to dead ends, and certainly nothing serious, leaving nobody with a feel for Pritchard's master plan.

 

"I'm good at a lot of things, but prying into the mind of Kevin Pritchard is not one of them," said agent Andy Miller, who represents key free agents Andre Miller and Antonio McDyess, as well as Blazers guard Rudy Fernandez. "I have no idea what he's up to."

 

The biggest insight into Pritchard's mindset came Monday, when a team source revealed that the Blazers are most likely to pull away from the free agent market and use their cap space to execute an financially uneven trade.

 

Teams under the league salary cap - and the Blazers expect to be $7 million to $8 million under when the cap is announced today or Wednesday - are not required to match salaries of the players involved. For instance, the Blazers can acquire a player making $10 million by using their $7 million cap space and sending a player making $3 million to the other team.

 

Many think the Blazers are in the market for a starting point guard, a dynamic small forward or a backup power forward. Turkoglu was a dynamic, multi-faceted small forward who was close to signing with the Blazers before electing to agree with Toronto.

 

Since the stunning reversal Friday evening, the Blazers have been active, according to agents around the league. Andy Miller said the Blazers first inquired about Andre Miller shortly after the free agent market opened July 1, but then the dialogue ceased. After the Turkoglu deal fell through, his phone line lit up again.

 

"I talked to him more this weekend than I have since the start," Miller said of Pritchard. "I talked to him Saturday and Sunday, but not (Monday)."

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http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/07/blazers_next_move_is_a_mystery.html

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